Comfortable Silence
by queenofslytherin31
Summary: She's from Amity. He's from Erudite. Clash. She's an initiate. He's a leader. Conflict. She's divergent. He isn't. Drama. She can't stop looking at him, and he can't stop defending her. Love.
1. Chapter 1

**First Divergent story. I'm really nervous about it. Now, I'm not a big Eric fan in the canon, (Actually hated him.) But I realized what would of happened if Eric gave himself the chance to care and there was no war going on...just a what-if fanfic basically.**

 **Disclaimer: I own nothing besides my own characters.**

* * *

 **Chapter One: **

The feel of the grass beneath her fingers feels soft and the prickles of them also made her feel connected. Connected to the Earth and to most importantly, her family.

She stared up at the sky, looking above at the clouds in deep wonder. What will she make of any of this? She has her answer, but how does she use it? She isn't sure if anything is the right decision anymore. Part of her wants to give up all together, but she can't, can't she?

Her mother calls from the barn, "Arabella, it's lunch time." She lifts herself up from the ground, her long purple dress slipping to the bottom of her feet. She follows her mother towards the kitchen area where her father and sister are.

"Ah, Arabella, where have you been all morning? I heard you left the test early?" Her father asked her as she took a seat at the table.

She opened her mouth to speak but her sister does instead, "I saw her playing around on the grass again, father. While I was in the garden helping Miss Cecile-"

Their father, Robert, lifts his hand cutting off Ariana, "Yes, Ariana, I understand." He turns and faces Arabella, "Arabella, you know how important it is for you to start helping out around the farms and figuring out what type of job you're going to be picking. Your Choosing Ceremony is tomorrow. You'll begin working then."

Ariana smiled while Arabella glared at her plate full of broccoli, potatoes, and corn. "Miss Cecile says that I have potential in working in the gardens. She told me I am one with Earth," Arabella's twin sister boasted.

Their mother, Alyssa, smiled happily and rubbed her daughter's arm, "That's great, Ariana. You'll fit right in tomorrow."

"Yes, unlike your sister." Huffed Robert.

Tired of hearing the same thing over and over again, Arabella pushes her chair out from the table and stands up. "Will you excuse me," she mutters and rushes out of the kitchen.

Robert stands up and shouts, "Arabella Carter, get back here this instant!"

She ignores him and runs through the barn and to the fresh air outside where the sun is shining brightly in the sky above her. She sighs to herself in relief as the feeling of the sun kissing her soft face mentally empowers her.

* * *

Walking through Amity faction, she found her dear friend Ryan. He was sitting on a tree branch, waiting for her at their normal hangout.

"Hey, " she starts as she lifts herself up with no problem and climbs the tree. "What are you doing up here? It's lunch time-"

"Can we discuss our aptitude test?"

Arabella sighs, "Ryan, you know we can't-"

"Who's going to find out?" He grumbled in annoyance.

Arabella shakes her head as she sits beside him on the branch. The two of them stare out into the distance, watching their friends and family work the farms.

"I didn't get Amity..." He whispers to her.

Her eyebrows furrow in irritation and annoyance, "Ryan!"

"I need to talk with somebody, Arabella." Ryan pleads. "I need help in making the biggest decision of my life..."

Although she's curious she knows better than to ask him what he got.

"Just go with your gut. If it says stay in Amity, stay. If it says go to whatever faction you got, go there. Just do whatever will make you end up not regretting it in the long run. Don't stay here for your family, Ryan. You're better than that."

"What about Melissa?" He whispered softly as he glares down at the ground beneath them now.

Arabella frowns in sympathy. Ryan has been in love with Melissa ever since she can remember and just a year ago he finally got the courage to tell the other Amity girl how he feels. Luckily she felt the same and they've been together ever since. She's never seen a couple more made for each other and just knowing that the ceremony can break them apart upsets her greatly.

"Do you know what she got?" She asked him softly.

Ryan scoffed to himself, "Probably Amity. You know her and nature. Plus she's the kindest person I ever met...There's no other place that fits her than this."

"Have you talked to her about the test at all?"

Ryan shook his head. "I haven't seen her at all today. She's probably wandering off, trying to decide which job she's going to pick." After a long pause he turns to Arabella. "What about you? What did you get? There's no way you're staying here. This place is beneath you. Was it Erudite? That seems pretty fitting. I doubt you got Abnegation or Candor. Telling the truth and wearing all that gray would drive you mad-"

"Okay, Ryan. That's enough and I'm not telling you what I got." She scoffs. "And anyways, go talk to Melissa. If she doesn't want to discuss the test with you then honestly, pick what you want. Don't pick what she wants, because if you guys break up, you're going to regret ever picking what she picked. Even if you guys don't break up, you'll probably be miserable at wherever she chooses to go..."

Ryan smiles appreciatively in Arabella's direction. "Thanks, sis."

Arabella laughed, leaning over to give him a hug. "No problem, brother."

* * *

The next day was the most stressful day in Arabella's life. Up until the ceremony she still didn't have a clue as to what she was going to pick.

She sat with her family, waiting for her turn. As Marcus Eaton began to talk, Arabella felt her mother stiffen beside her.

"Mom?" She asked her softly, getting her attention.

"It's nothing-" began her mother but her father leaned over and interrupted.

"When was the last time you talked with your brother, Alyssa?"

Arabella's eyes widen slightly when putting the two together.

Her mother sighs and looks anywhere but the two of them, "Not for a long time."

Sooner rather than later, sadly, it was almost Arabella's turn. She waited in line with her sister. Ariana kept making 'oohing' and 'ahhing' noises when everyone in their faction went up to pick. Arabella was annoyed real fast.

"Melissa Ashton." Marcus called.

Arabella watched anxiously as Melissa cut open her hand waited a moment before leaning her hand over a bowl.

She chose Amity.

Arabella closed her eyes. She had no idea what Ryan was going to choose. He didn't leave any hints to what he was picking.

In no time his name was called. "Ryan Barnett."

He walked so slow, so stiffly, it broke Arabella's heart.

Candor.

Closing her eyes, she shook her head softly. She guesses it wasn't meant to be. She just feels bad for the two of them.

"Arabella Carter."

She felt her heart race as she started making her way up the steps. This was it. It's now or never.

She looked at each of the five bowls. Gray stones for Abnegation, water for Erudite, glass for Candor, lit coals for Dauntless, and Earth for Amity.

She feels the pressure of Marcus watching her intently. Knowing now, that that man is related to her mother, she can't help but now feel even more uncomfortable under his gaze than she ever did before.

She takes the large knife, and cringes when she cuts her hands slightly, oh how she truly hated this. Why couldn't they all simply write down what they wanted on a piece of paper or something? She hesitates for a second before releasing the knife in her hand. She curls her bloodied hand and takes another moment to decide. She can feel everyone's watchful gaze on her, especially her parent's and sister.

So she did it quickly, so quickly that whoever blinked at that moment missed it.

She chose Dauntless.


	2. Chapter 2

**A/N-** **I forgot to mention that this will be the initiation after Tris's year. Which means there was no war and no conspiracy with Erudite.**

* * *

 **Chapter Two:**

Stepping off the stage and walking towards Dauntless, Arabella sees them clapping and smiling as she makes her way towards them. Looking over to where her parents are sitting she sees her father glaring at her and her mother clearly looking disappointed in her choice. She turned around just in time to see her sister choose, and just as expected, she chose to stay in Amity.

Ariana turned around, catching Arabella's eyes. She scowled at her sister and headed back towards her parents, flipping her hair behind her shoulder while doing so.

As Arabella reached Dauntless, an over enthusiastic man shook her hand and seated her with the other transfers. Suddenly feeling nervous, she keeps to herself, itching her forearms. Her dress is long, and yellow, her dark black hair is pulled back, and her green eyes were wide and wandering around, looking at everyone in thought.

"Well at least it isn't a Stiff this year." She heard someone mumble from behind her. She didn't bother turning around. She sighed and ignored the whispers made about her amongst the crowd.

She knew people were going to make assumptions about her since she was raised in Amity. They're going to view her as weak, and someone they can take advantage of, and she simply wanted to just prove them wrong. She just wasn't sure if she was able to do so.

After the ceremony ended shortly, she found herself running with the Dauntless. Running around Amity wasn't a very common thing to do, but she found herself doing it more often than none. So catching up with the rest of the Dauntless wasn't too hard, but it also wasn't easy either.

She tried catching her breath by slowing down her pace. She found herself jogging next to a girl who seemed to be from Erudite. She was wearing a blue blazer with a white button down top under. Her hair is long and brown and she had an olive skinned tone with deep doe brown eyes.

The Erudite girl looked over her way and smiled politely, "Hi, I'm Savannah."

Arabella nodded her head and introduced herself breathlessly, "Arabella."

Savannah laughed, "I know. People can't stop whispering about you."

"Great." She replied sarcastically.

Looking on, they saw a large silver train come by. The Dauntless-borns started running towards the train. Arabella closed her eyes, she had a feeling she knew what they were going to do.

Savannah groaned loudly, "Don't tell me we're doing what I think we're doing."

As the Dauntless-born started jumping onto the train with no problem, Arabella said, "I think that answered your question." And then started following the Dauntless.

Savannah groaned yet again as she followed Arabella in tow.

Jumping onto the train was not as easy as it looks. Arabella ran as fast as she could, she leaned over to grab the handle, and with all her might, she pulled herself up from the ground and jumped, landing inside. She looked across and saw Savannah was already inside. She furrowed her eyebrows in confusion, how did she pass her up? Then she noticed Savannah's hand in a Dauntless born's one, and a love struck expression taken over her features. Arabella had to bite down a smirk.

They boy was tall, with light brown hair and green eyes.

"I'm Damian." She heard him introduce himself. Savannah blushed.

"I'm Savannah...uh, thanks for helping me out there."

"Anytime." He winked and went across the train where his friends were at. Her eyes never left him and Arabella chuckled to herself.

Savannah noticed Arabella and rushed over to her. "Did you see him? He's-he's-"

"Very nice looking?"Arabella smirked, helping her out.

Savannah's eyes widened, "Nice looking? Are you blind? He's hot!" She exclaimed.

Arabella laughed. "I'm not blind. He's just not my time." She shrugged.

Savannah raised an eyebrow, "Really? Perfect looking boys aren't your type?"

Arabella rolled her eyes, "I'm more into...muscle kind of guys, I guess. I don't know, probably because there aren't those type of guys in Amity like that."

Now it was Savannah's turn to smirk, "Well don't you worry about that. There's plenty of men like that here." They both laughed together, there worries of initiation falling away for a short while.

Arabella looked around the train and noticed the different transfers. There was ten of them all together. Four Erudite, five Candor, and then herself, one Amity. The rest hadn't made it on the train, and she couldn't help but frown at that thought. They were dauntless for all but two minutes, and now they're remaining factionless.

Three Erudites stuck together, all three of them being boys. Listening and observing around her while Savannah stared out the window in awe, she realized that their names were George, Christian, and Michael. Christian seemed to be the meanest in her opinion. He kept making fun of people in their former faction and she heard him say a few mean words about her thinking she wasn't listening.

Two girls from Candor stuck together, they were both glaring at everyone, especially Arabella. She noticed them laughing and pointing at her with each other and she instinctively crossed her arms, feeling self conscious. She didn't know what their names were yet. Then there were three other boys, who looked fairly scrawny. She knew their names were Josh, Kevin, and Steve.

As the train started making it's way it it's destination, Arabella noticed it wasn't going to stop. That was when she saw all the Dauntless jumping off the train. A moving train.

She mentally groaned.

She didn't mean to be one of the last ones to jump off, she was just really nervous. So she told herself not to think and just do. It helped ease her mind as she ran from the back of the train, jumped off of it, and ended up landing on her hands and knees on the hard gravel.

Savannah followed right behind her.

Catching her breath she looked up in amazement. She did it...she can't believe she just jumped off of a moving train!

She pulled herself up and her and Savannah both gathered around where everyone else was. She went on her tippy-toes and looked over a tall person's shoulder-she's only five-foot-two- and saw a dark skinned man with gray hair standing on the ledge, "Listen up! My name is Max and I'm a leader here at your new faction!" He shouts loudly.

She was already intimidated by him. "Down below us is the entrance to our compound. Don't want to jump? Become factionless and good riddance, you don't belong here then. Initiates jump first, of course." He smirked.

One of the Candor girls spoke, "We're going to jump off a ledge? Just like that?"

"That's what I just said didn't I?" He spoke in annoyance.

All the transfers looked at each other, wondering who was going to go first. She saw the mean Erudite, take a step back, waiting for someone to go first obviously. She mentally rolled her eyes.

She wanted to fit in. She wanted to prove herself, to show that she does belong here. So she took a step forward, causing all eyes to be on her.

Max looked over her as she stood up onto the ledge. She didn't bother looking down. She knew she would end up freaking herself out and then not bother jumping and become factionless for the rest of her life.

So she closed her eyes, didn't think about anything that she was doing, and jumped, ignoring the sudden gasps being heard from behind her. She was free falling, and oh was it exciting. She bounced into the net flying high up into the air and falling back down.

A large smile is spread across her face. She's never had so much fun in her life.

A hand leans over the net and pulls her up and brings her out.

"Name?" He asks roughly. His eyebrows raised when noticing her attire. "Amity, huh?"

The girl beside him smiled. "Well this already seems like it's going to be a fun year." She laughed. Arabella didn't get it but smiled politely. "What's your name?" She asked her.

"Oh, uh, Arabella." She spoke and he nodded his head.

The long haired girl smiled as she announced loudly, "First jumper- Arabella!"

Cheering is heard all around and she finally notices the crowd of people. A laugh rumbles from inside of her.

"Welcome to Dauntless." They both spoke in unison.

She heard a scream and saw that one of the Candor boys had made their way down. She laughs again.

* * *

When all the initiates had finally made their way down, they all follow the two Dauntless instructors. They lead them through a tunnel and Arabella couldn't help but let her eyes wander. She's always thought the Dauntless were interesting and had always wanted to be one. She never thought that she would ever get this far one day.

The girl turned around, "Okay, so now we're going to divide. Dauntless-born will go with me. By the way, my name is Tris for the rest of you Transfers." She smiled and the dauntless-born detached themselves from the transfers and started to follow her.

Arabella noticed how Savannah and Damian gave each other sad longing looks and mentally rolled her eyes.

Tris turned to the other instructor before leaving, "I'll meet you at dinner." He nodded his head and smirked at her slightly before she walked away.

He cleared his throat, grabbing all of their attentions. "I usually work in the control room, but for the next few weeks, I'm your instructor." He introduces himself, "My name is Four."

Arabella continued to stare at Four and she couldn't help but wonder why he was so familiar to her. Had she seen him before? She isn't sure, but she knows she definitely knows him from somewhere.

He showed the tour around the compound. The Pit was the place everyone usually hanged around, and then he showed the chasm, a place you definitely do not want to hang around. They all shared a dorm and the bathroom was pretty open...But other than all that, she still couldn't help but already love this place. It was like a dream to her and she was so excited.

Her and Savannah stayed close together, both not used to being around new environments.

They end up burning their old clothes and getting new all black Dauntless ones. Arabella hated that yellow dress.

At dinner time the two of them end up finding empty seats across from Four and Tris who are sitting next to each other.

"Hi," Tris smiles kindly and Four just nods his head in acknowledgment. They both reply with the same greeting.

They grab their plates and gather food on it. Arabella bites her lip to stop herself from talking. She's never seen food cooked like this. She was used to the plain crops and meat simply chopped to pieces. Nothing in the form of a hamburger, that's for sure.

The doors to the cafeteria open and there was a sudden quietness that felt eerie to Arabella. She looked over and saw a man with dark hair and a menacing feel of him. His eyes are cold and he looks around the room, at every single person sitting there.

"Who's that?" Arabella asks, her eyes never leaving sight of him.

"His name is Eric," says Tris, "He's a Dauntless leader." She spoke as if it annoyed her.

Both Arabella and Savannah's eyes widened. _But he's so young_ , Arabella had thought.

Eric's eyes land on Four and Tris. He makes his way over their table. She diverts her eyes back down to her own plate of food. A sudden nervousness she's never felt before takes over her.

He stands behind the both of them and his hands land on both their shoulders, she sees them visibly cringe. He lets go and gestures to Savannah and Arabella. "New initiates? Care to introduce me?"

Tris mumbles, "Well doesn't this feel like deja vu."

Four sighs, "This is Arabella and Savannah."

Eric's eyes find Arabella's and she suddenly felt the coldness of them become even colder. "I heard you're from Amity. Well I learned my mistake last time, maybe you'll actually make it past initiation, or maybe not, I don't really care." He shrugs.

Arabella tried to ignore his mean words as they sliced through her. What type of place is this when the leaders don't even care if you succeed or not? It's like they all like to watch people fail right before their eyes.

Tris sighs, "Is there a reason you're here, Eric?"

Now he was smirking. "Actually, yes. Max needed to talk to the two of you. Something about a technical problem in the control room, I don't really know." He rolls his eyes.

Four and Tris sigh in unison, but they stand up anyways. "Alright." Says Four ,as by Savannah and Arabella's surprise, takes Tris's hand and the two of them head towards the cafeteria doorway.

Savannah blinks and Arabella's eyes widen. She asks to no one in particular as she speaks aloud, "Are they together?"

Eric who is still standing there answered her, "Yes, and it's as disgusting as it seems." Then with that he walked away from the two of them and went and sat down where there were older people who looked like other Dauntless leaders.

Savannah turns to Arabella, "Okay, number one; Tris and Four? We should have seen that coming. And number two; Eric is seriously the scariest person I've ever met."

Arabella couldn't help but nod in agreement. Even if her eyes kept somehow moving their way towards the dark hair Dauntless leader across the room from time to time.


	3. Chapter 3

**A/N- ANOTHER SHORT CHAPTER I'M SORRY. I PROMISE CHAPTERS WILL GET LONGER. Also, I realized I messed up when writing Tris's description, I was thinking of Shai's natural hair color and wrote brown. So I just decided that I'm going to use the characters from the movie. SO IGNORE HOW I DESCRIBED TRIS AND ERIC IN CHAPTER TWO. Tris has blonde hair sort of kind of, and Eric has blonde, too.**

* * *

 **Chapter Three:**

After dinner Arabella and Savannah decided to take a walk around the compound. They both run into a group of initiates that consisted of two dauntless-borns and the three Candors.

They were all standing around, talking about their families back at their former factions. Arabella stood in between Savannah and Kevin. Savannah kept blushing every time Damian turned to speak to her, but Arabella couldn't help but notice Kevin's eyes constantly linger on Savannah as well.

Arabella isn't used to interacting with so many people at once. Back at Amity she was used to just being around her family or spending time with Ryan and Melissa. She didn't have a large group of friends growing up.

"Back at Candor, my brother and I would play this game-" Josh started, but was cut off by one of the Candor girls named, Claire.

"Your brother Trevor is _so_ hot." She emphasized the 'so' as she walked up to the group of them, with her sidekick trailing behind her. Her name is Ashley.

Josh rolled his eyes, never finishing what he was saying. Damian's bestfriend, Landon, smirked.

"You know who's hot?" he gestured his head towards Arabella's direction, " _Amity's_ twin sister. Ariana's-"

Claire cut him off with a smirk, "Really? Then what happened to you?" She glared in her direction, an evil glint in her eyes.

Arabella frowned, remaining quiet. She's always thought of herself as unpretty and spent the majority of her life being compared to Ariana. She knew she was just plain, and didn't have anything special about her.

Josh glared at Claire while Kevin asked her, "What does your sister look like?"

Arabella hesitated as she thought for a moment, but then spoke, "Opposite of me, I guess. The only thing we have in common really is that our hair is long. Her's is a lighter shade of brown, it has a lot of red in it compared to mine, and also her eyes are brown while mine are green. We really don't look much alike." Now that she thought about it.

"Are you guys meant to be identical?" Asked Savannah.

Arabella shook her head, "No we're fraternal. I look more like my mother and she looks more like my father."

Savannah nodded her head, "Me and my brother look nothing alike. He looks like my grandfather with his light eyes and blonde hair."

Arabella frowned taking what Savannah said into consideration. She's only ever met her dad's parents before. Every few months her grandparents will visit them or they have to go across Amity and visit them. She's never once thought about her mother's parents. Does that mean her mother came from a different faction? If she's related to Marcus Eaton, then that means they would have grew up in the same one. Was her mother from Abnegation?

She has no idea, and she knows now, that she'll never find out.

"So, Savannah," said Damian, "do you have a nickname?"

Savannah scowled at that thought like it was unheard of. "A nickname? Erudite isn't really into that sort of thing. Your name is your name." She shrugs.

Arabella remains quiet, not being able to get out of her shell quite yet. Damian, for the first time speaks to her, "What about you, Amity? Got a nickname? Since your first jumper and all, I'm guessing we shouldn't keep calling you Amity." He smirked.

Her eyebrows scrunched together, "Why?"

"Considering Six was a Stiff who was first jumper and first rank, none of us Dauntless-borns are taking any new transfer lightly." He shrugs.

"Who?" Savannah asked, crossing her arms in confusion.

Landon answered her, "Tris."

Both of their eyebrows raise in shock. The same Tris that they sat with at dinner? Well now that Arabella thought back to when she had first jumped, she remembered Tris's words and it all started to make sense to her as to why she was so excited for someone like her to jump first.

Before any of them of them continue talking, Eric walks out causing everyone in the Pit to quiet down amongst themselves. Arabella feels her breath hitch in her throat as he looks amongst the crowd of them all. She sees the Dauntless-born, all ten of them, and the rest of the transfers, all start to crowd around each other.

"Initiates, listen up!"

He folds his arms over his chest and glares down intimidatingly. "For those of you who don't know, my name is Eric," he says. "I am one of five leaders of Dauntless. The initiation process is very serious here. So I will be overseeing most of your training."

That thought terrifies Arabella.

He explains to them the rules of initiation and that they have to meet in the training room by eight a.m. He also goes into explaining that they are getting ranked.

"Why are we getting ranked?" Asked George.

Eric answers with no amusement, "Because, it shows us what job positions you qualify for that are available, and," he paused for the dramatics. "We only have a spot for ten members."

A murmur breaks out amongst the initiates. Eric shouts, "Everybody, shut up!" Arabella flinches as it starts to quiet down again. "There are three stages of initiation. Four of you will be cut from the end of the first stage. Then the rest will be cut after the final test."

People start talking again. Arabella mentally rolls her eyes.

Eric looks like he's about to lose his temper, "Quiet!" He yells. They all stop talking immediately. He grins with malice, "You chose us. Now we choose you."

Arabella felt the chill run down her back. She knew she was doomed from the start.

* * *

 _"I'm sorry, I'm sorry!" She screams but they don't care. Tears fall freely down her cheeks and she tries to reach out to them but they do nothing. They look at her with disgust filled eyes._

 _"How could you, Arabella? We raised you to be Amity, but you chose Dauntless. Why?" Her mother spat at her._

 _She froze. "I-I-"_

 _Her father shakes his head with a cruel laugh. "Don't you see, Alyssa? She's one of them. She doesn't belong anywhere!"_

 _Arabella shook her head, "No, mom, dad, I do! I belong in Dauntless, I swear-"_

 _Arianna speaks, "She's just not meant for Amity, Mother. Just like how she wasn't meant for our family. She never was."_

 _Arabella's breath hitched. "What- what are you talking about?"_

 _"You're not our daughter!" Shouts her father._

* * *

Arabella instantly wakes up. She sits up in her cot, her breathing erratic as she looks along the dorm and realizes that she's okay. It was all just a dream. She's their daughter. Of course she is. Why wouldn't she be? Her parents would never disown her, would they? She shakes that thought from her head.

She tries to go back to sleep but after a half hour of tossing and turning, she gets out of bed and puts on her shoes and jacket as quietly as possible. She leaves the dorm to take a walk and try to get her mind off of her dream.

While walking through the quietly eerie Pit, there were a few people there that she didn't know, but they were in groups talking quietly with themselves. She walks down the hall and in the direction of the chasm.

Walking along it, she stops to take a second to think. She leans against the railing, but doesn't look down. She wished she had a close relationship with her parents. She wished she were different and was able to stay in Amity, but she wasn't. She couldn't.

"What are you doing out here, Amity?" Came a rough and familiar voice from down the chasm. She stiffens immediately and clears her throat.

She doesn't look at him as she tries to think of a good enough reason as to why she was out of bed this late in the evening.

"I-uh-"

He doesn't say anything as he steps closer to her. Her hands lock together and her chest tightens as he gets close enough to her. She can feel his leather jacket touch hers, but they were a good few inches apart. He doesn't look at her as he looks down at the chasm. They both stand there in an eerie silence amongst the two of them. He leans against the railing, and she's just waiting for him to reprimand her. The fear of him possibly kicking her out or already dropping her rank because she wasn't following rules eats her alive.

He finally speaks, but nothing she expected.

"I'll give you two minutes, Amity. But then your back to the dorm."

So they stood there, for two whole minutes, listening to the water of the chasm, in an comfortable silence.

* * *

 **A/N- I'm going to try to not make this cheesy or make Eric OOC. Don't worry he's not going to be soft on her.**


	4. Chapter 4

**A/N- Right now, there's not going to be a whole lot of romance between the two of them yet. I want this to be as realistic as possible, and just making them flirt with each other seems so OOC it's not even funny. Lol. But yeah, it's not going to be a really slow burn or anything, but it won't be fast paced either.**

 **Like I said I'm trying to make Eric as in character as possible for me to write. But being completely in character is impossible when writing such a romance so please be patient with me. :)**

 **Also, I think I'm going to have to change the rating to M. I realized I'll probably have the characters cuss a lot, and there will eventually be sexual scenes.**

* * *

 **Chapter Four: **

It's the first day of Initiation training, and Arabella already feels like she has somehow failed. She's not doing very well to say the least, but she knows she shouldn't be discouraged too quickly. It's just hard for her to break out of that habit, the one where she constantly puts herself down.

Living in Amity, one would think that everyone there is always nice and peaceful, never yelling and arguing with one another, which is true, but to a certain extent.

Her parents never fought with one another, atleast not infront of her and Ariana, but she could tell that they would get irritated with eachother quite often. Whether it was her mother talking non stop and her father would breathe heavily in irritation or her father would do something ridiculous and her mother would close her eyes and her knuckles would whiten as she clenched her fists.

Ariana was a puzzle to her. Her sister was kind to others, but whenever it came to herself, she usually ended up ignoring Arabella's exsitance half the time or would find a way to make quick jabs about her subtley, as though she was innocent.

So, even though Arabella was used to tension, she surely wasn't used to the yelling and glaring one was brought upon with Dauntless.

Four glared down at Christian, a look of irriation and anger blurred in his eyes. "If I was you, initiate, I would shut up before I make you."

The room was deathly silent and Arabella cringed, holding the gun closer to her. She heard Savannah sigh beside her.

"Christian has always been an idiot."

Arabella turned and asked her, "So he's always been...like that?"

Savannah nodded, "I don't know why, honestly. I mean, his cockiness has been ever since I can remember, really. His mom and my mom are friends. When we were younger we were forced to play together." She rolled her eyes. "He would never shutup about his awesome scores and whatever else he had to boast about."

They both turned their attentions back to Christian and Four. Christian looked oddly worried as Four's hand tightened around his weapon his was holding.

Christian gulped, "Yeah, uh, sorry, Four." He scratched the back of his neck awkwardly, "I won't talk back again." He sighs in defeat.

"You know, " Savannah got her attention again, she looked like she was about to start gossiping, "I wonder how Six and Four got together, I mean, she seems so nice and he's well- he's Four!"

Arabella shrugged, "Looks can be decieving...maybe he's a big softy on the inside." She smirked and Savannah laughed.

Four, having had heard the laughter, turned around, "Hey, I didn't say stop. Get back to what you were doing and stop messing around."

Both their eyes widen and they quickly assume to their positions and start shooting at the targets again.

While Savannah's aim wasn't great, at least the more she continued, she started to get closer to the target. Arabella wasn't even close.

After about the thirtieth or so bullet, she sighed in defeat. "This is useless. I'm never going to be good at this."

Savannah snorted, "Don't let Four hear that."

"Or me."

Their eyes go wide like saucers for the second time that day, but this was worse than being mildly scolded by Four.

Arabella turned around slightly, her eyes catching Eric's gray ones. His stare planted onto the side of her head as he glared at her.

"Are you showing signs of cowardice, initiate?" He jaw clenched as he crossed his arms above his chest.

 _When did he get here?_ Is all Arabella can think before she shook her head. "No. Of course not."

"Then get back to shooting." He snapped.

She flinched, but was able to keep her composure. Straightening out her back, and placing her hand back onto the trigger as she points the gun to her target, she felt a hand on her shoulder. It was hard and not gentle at all whatsoever.

"For fuck's sake. You're doing it all wrong." He turned his head and looked down the row of initiates where Four is standing with George.

"Hey, Four. Maybe you should start teaching the initiates a bit more, since Amity over here looks like she has no idea what the hell she's doing."

Arabella stiffened as the hand on her shoulder went just a bit more tighter. _Why was he picking on me?_

Four grumbled something under his breath before making his way to Eric and her. Eric took a step back and let Four guide Arabella into a more correct way of shooting.

After being taught her new position, her aim was getting closer to the target, but she was still not close to it. At least she stopped hitting the edge of Kevin's target board.

Eric gave Four a nod and Four went back to helping out George and Michael who both were having some technical problems with their guns.

Savannah and Kevin both glanced at Arabella worried, she was oblivious to the hot stare she was recieving from the Dauntless Leader behind her. Eventually he closed himself in back of her, "Maybe you should've stayed in Amity...Probably would've been better at helping out with the crops than shooting a gun at a simple taget, don't you think?"

She felt the blood rush to her cheeks in embaressment. Something inside of her snapped. Her finger was still on the trigger and without overthinking, she clicked, and watched as the bullet made it into the circle of the target. The closest she's gotten to all day.

Eric was smirking broadly as Arabella turned around. She tried to hold back the glare as much as she could, but her eyes still narrowed and it was clear to him she was angry.

"About time, initiate." Eric snorted, then went down the row of initiates and started picking on Josh, who was doing no better than her.

"Wow," Savannah spoke as she turned away from her gun for a second, "He seems to have taken a non-liking to you."

Arabella didn't reply, but she couldn't help but think, _I'm used to it._

* * *

During lunch break her and Savannah sit with Kevin, Josh, and Steve. The three boys seemed to be average so far with intiation. They haven't stood out and caused much attention to them yet, besides Josh, he's not the strongest male in the group. Yet, she still found their positions to be in appealing. It's only the first two days and she's already singled out.

Claire and Ashley sat with Christian, Michael, and George. Arabella turned to look at their table when noticing Steve constantly glance down at it.

She asked him curiously, "Why do you keep staring at their table?"

Steve stopped, his brown eyes wide and he ran his hand through his short blonde hair. He looked caught off guard and seemed to have not even noticed that he was doing so.

"Uh," He hesitated.

Kevin rolled eyes, "He used to date Ashley. The two of them broke up because she said she was staying in Candor. Obviously she lied."

Arabella found that sentence ironic.

Her eyebrows raised, "Has she said anything to you since we've been here?"

Steve shook his head sadly. "No, I guess she just didn't care for me as much as I thought she did."

Arabella glanced down the table once more. She didn't expect to catch Ashley looking longingly at Steve from her table. Steve's head was down and he was glaring at his plate, oblivious to her. Arabella sighed. She was starting to get a little annoyed with all this romance around her.

Then she remembered the way Kevin had looked at Savannah yesterday. She quickly glanced over at him, noticing he was watching Savannah out of the corner of his eye. She had to hold back another sigh.

Damian and Landon came up to their table. Damian waved at them all, but smiled widely when walking up behind Savannah. His hands fall to her shoulders and he bends down to whisper in her ear, "Hey. We have a few minutes before we have to headback. Want to come to the Pit for a little bit?"

Savannah blushes deeply before nodding her head enthusiastically. She stands up quickly and rushes out of the cafeteria following Damian. Landon rolled his eyes and sat in Savannah's place.

Noticing Kevin's frown, Arabella couldn't help but feel a pang of sympathy for the former Candor. Yet, at the same time, Damian saw her first, and she seems to have taken a liking to the Dauntless-born, so she's going to stay out of it.

Leaning over Arabella's plate, Landon took a piece of her buiscut from her. "Sorry, I'm a growing boy." He grinned sheepishly as he stuffed his face with the peice of bread.

* * *

After lunch they enter a different room than the one they were in before. The first thing Arabella notices is the chalkboard with all their names on it. She knew what was coming next, and if she was anything like this morning, she knew she was going to be even worse at this. It was time for them to learn fighting.

Four demonstrated some moves for them all to learn and go over. She was relieved to know they weren't going to be physically fighting with another person quite yet. She knew just how that would end if she did that today.

She's a small person, only an inch above five-foot and can be considered scrawny since she has no muscle on her at all. She knew she would for sure have a problem when fighting the males.

The punching bags were not as easy as they looked. She swears her bag didn't even move in the slightest when punching it. After five minutes her hand started to cramp up. She stopped for a second, taking a break to stretch out the muscles in her hands and relax them.

Eric enters the room at that time. Noticing her being the only one not punching at the moment, he stalks towards her small frame.

"What are you doing, Amity?" His deep voice causes her to stiffen in her place.

She didn't bother turning around as she mumbles, "Sorry. I was just relaxing my hand."

"Do you think you're gonna have time to relax your hand in the middle of a fight?" He was now full on glaring at her.

Her eyes widen when she notices her mistake. She shakes her head, "That's not what I meant. It's just-It's my first time ever punching anything. I'm not used to it-"

"It's most of these other transfers first time, too. And you don't see them taking any breaks, do you?"

 _Actually I did. You just weren't in the room to see it._ She thought in irritation, but didn't bother saying anything.

So she lied, "No."

Arabella looked down at the ground. She didn't bother to meet his eyes at all. She knows he's especially mad at her because she was talking back to him. She doubts he would look this angry just for taking a couple second break on her first day.

"Exactly." He looked around the room and said, "Why don't you run a few laps around the room today, Amity? Since you need to relax your hand and all." He glared.

She bit on her tongue and sighed to herself. She ignores the sympathetic looks she was recieving from her new friends, and started to jog around the training room. She kept going until Eric had told her to stop.

He didn't tell her to stop for a half an hour.

Finally Four walked up to Eric, who was sitting down beside the chalkboard, watching the other transfers intently.

"Are you seriously making her run around the room for taking a break? It's her first day and she had been shooting all morning, Eric-"

Eric's expression appeared bored as he interrupts Four without bothering to even look at him. "I'm the Leader, Four. What I say goes. And I say she runs."

As Arabella jogged around the training room, she finally had time to just focus on her thoughts. She couldn't believe how irritating Eric was! Last night, she thought, maybe, just maybe, he wasn't as bad as he seemed considering he didn't yell at her for being up late and wandeirng around the chasm. Yet, here he was snapping at her for the littlest thing and punishing her for something that she thought she didn't deserved to be punished for.

As she passed by the other intitiates she tried ignoring the smirks Christian and Claire constantly threw her way. It made her sick to her stomach with embaressment.

Finally, Eric stops Arabella. He walks up to her and says, "Alright, Amity. Times up."

Breathing heavily, she wanders over to him. Catching her breath as her hand instinctivley goes to her hip. Her face is red and sweat is dripping at her forehead.

"Your hand all well rested now?" He smirked.

 _Yeah, my hand is, but my body isn't_.

She doesn't say anything. She continues trying to catch her breath and really trying not to pass out. She's never ran for such a long period of time before without stopping and it was starting to make her slightly dizzy.

Eric blinks a couple times, watching her movements intently. "You okay, initiate?"

He takes a step forward, watching her like a hawk. She still doesn't reply. Her eyes are on the floor and all of a sudden, she's fallen to her knees, and knocks back onto the ground. Completely passed out.

Hearing the commotion of her drop, the other initiates turn around. Savannah yells, "Arabella!"

Four notices the transfer passed out and runs over to them. He glares at Eric. "What the hell did you do, Eric?"

Eric rolled his eyes at the dramatics. "She's fine. She just passed out from exhaustian and is probably dehydrated. Just get someone to take her to the infirmary." He shrugs.

Four hides the smirk that wanted to break free. "Can't. I'm watching the initiates and they have to train without any breaks, you so clearly pointed out. Why don't you take Arabella to the infirmary?"

Eric scowled slightly, but didn't show any emotion. He quickly grabbed Arabella and held her bridal style. He doesn't like how light of weight she is, but doesn't comment on it aloud as he makes his way out of the training room, ignoring Four's amusing eyes and the initiate's wide-eyed stares.

* * *

When Arabella wakes up, she finds her self in a small cot, with a bunch of similiar ones around her. A kind looking woman is standing beside the cot, glaring down at the person who was sitting beside her. Raising her head slightly she notices Eric sitting in the chair beisde her cot, his eyes skimming quickly over the words of a book in his hand.

Her throat felt dry all of a sudden and she let out a cough, causing both people's attentions.

Eric quickly shuts the book in his hands and places it on his lap, while the nurse's eyes shift to Arabella. "Oh, dear. Here let me get you some water." She rushes over to the sink and fills her a cup of it, then gave it to her.

Sipping the water slowly, Arabella sighed, feeling her throat hydrate. The nurse explains to her that she's okay, but that she needs to get rest tonight. She tells Arabella that she'll be perfectly fine to go back to training tomorrow morning. She thanks the nurse as she watches her exit the room.

Eric clears his throat, causing her to look up at him behind her long eyelashes.

"Well, Amity. I hope this whole ordeal taught you a lesson."

She wanted to roll her eyes but she knew she couldn't.

She doesn't speak, she just nods.

Eric stands up from the chair, pushing his book into his back pocket. "Well, until then, Amity-" he started but was caught off-guard by her curious question.

"Wh-what were you just reading now?" She asks in the most innocent voice.

"Nothing." He answers simply. It's not a big deal if she knew what he was reading, but he didn't want to conversate with the initiate.

She wonders if he was Dauntless-born or a transfer. Imagining him as a transfer seems crazy, because of all the tattoos, piercings, and his overall attitude. He doesn't seem like he'd been in any other faction besides this one.

Even though she's starting to despise the man before her, she couldn't help but be curious about him. Like, why was he sitting here waiting for her to wake up? She's starting to dislike the back and forth personalities. She can't keep changing her opinion of him, she'll end up with a headache.

She doesn't know why she starts talking but she does. She just wants him to open up a little bit, just a little. Maybe he can realize she isn't just an Amity, or an initiate, but a person. And maybe he can be less hard on her.

She knows that's just wishful thinking.

"Back in Amity we don't have much books. Reading isn't a big deal there. People mostly cared about the farms and the animals. Not much about education. It's sad, really." She spoke so softly, Eric was surprised he even heard her.

He doesn't say anything. He tells himself to walk out of the room. Leave her alone. She's awake and she's fine. Don't continue this pointless conversation with an intitiate, a former Amity no less!

So that's what he does. He walks out of the room without saying a word to Arabella. Making her cheeks turn into a scarlet red from embaressing herself for the third time today. She doesn't even know why she bothered trying.


	5. Chapter 5

**A/N- Please excuse lack of proper detail during fight scenes. I'm not good at writing action, specifically fighting, so sorry if it seems like I repeat myself.**

* * *

 **Chapter Five:**

She's curious.

How can she not be? She's been raised where tattoos and pericings are almost unheard of. In Amity, people all wear bright colors, mostly dresses for ladies, they rarely ever wore pants, and they were taught that natural beauty was true beauty. So she's never seen makeup before, and is curious about what getting a tattoo and piercing feels like., and these tight pants on her legs and dark clothing seem to fit her perfectly.

She remembers Eric's tattoos and piercings. The tattoos on his neck and arms. Piercings on his face and ears. She shakes her head, trying to get him out of her mind.

Her and Savannah ended up running into Six and her friend, who she now knows is named Christina.

"Hey, guys." Says Six warmly when running into them in the middle of the Pit. She introduces Christina to them and they give polite responses as they introuce themselves as well.

"So, how was your guy's first day of training?" She asks.

Savannah and Arabella sigh in unison.

Six smiles along with Christina. "Yeah, we've been there." Christina laughs.

"Well, my first day wasn't too terrible, but it's Arabella here who Eric seems to have it out for." Says Savannah. Arabella turns to glare at her.

Christina frowns, "What did Eric do to you? He can be a real asshole. Trust me, Tris and I know."

Arabella reluctantly goes into detail with what happened from this morning and the afternoon. She made sure not mention the infirmary and how he was still there when she woke up or the night before.

Six sighs, "I don't know what his problem is when it comes to initiation."

"When did you both transfer here?" Savannah asks, and she remembers yesterday when Damian and Landon said Six was a Stiff before.

They both smiled, "Last year."

"Was Four in your initiation class?" Savannah asked, seeming more curious than Arabella is of their romance.

Six blushed and Christina smirked at her. "No. His initiation was three years ago. He was our instructor." She admitted.

Savannah and her chuckled, but Arabella couldn't help but ask, "Does Dauntless have rules for that sort of thing?"

Christina was smirking at Arabella, "Why? Got a Dauntless member you have an eye on?"

Her eyes widen. "No, of course not. I'm just curious that's all."

Considering she's very, very inexperienced in the relationship department, she doubts she'll find a guy to like her, let alone a Dauntless member.

Six rolled her eyes at Christina's teasing, "It's not frowned upon if it's a regular Dauntless member, but with an intructor it's different. There's no actual rule agaisnt it, but it's better to wait until you pass initiation. You wouldn't want the other initiates to think you're cheating or something." Then she paused for a moment. "But since Four's already taken," She blushed while saying that and now Arabella can start to see the Abnegation in her, "And the only single guy that has power of you is Eric, which I sincerely doubt you'll ever like him considering what happened today, then there isn't much to worry about. Every other guy is free game." She laughed.

Then why can't Arabella get Eric out of her damn head?

"Have you guys gone to the shops yet?" Christina asks.

Savannah and Arabella shake their heads. Christina frowns at the two of them, "Really? That was my favorite part of initiation! Six and I will take you."

And that's how they all ended up at the tattoo parlor. Savannah was getting a tattoo of her brother's name. When Christina asked her why, she explained, "He passed away two years ago..." She didn't go further and none of them asked. If she wanted them to know, she would tell them.

Arabella got a tattoo on the back of her right shoulder. It was half a heart.

Savannah asked her, "Ooh, did you leave a boyfriend back in Amity or something?"

Arabella blushed. She shook her head, "Um, no. I never had a boyfriend..."

Savannah's eyes widened. "What? But, I heard Amity was all into relationships and stuff like that."

She shrugged in response, "I was too shy. No one noticed me, and besides I told you, Amity boys aren't my type."

Christina raised a curious eyebrow, "What is your type then, Arabella?"

Her blush never faded from her cheeks as she mumbles, "Strong."

Six laughs, "Just strong? Well that's ninety-nine percent of guys in Dauntless. You need to be more specific."

"Well, I guess, I like guys with tattoos...piercings...they seem to look nice."

Christina excepeted that one. "Okay, but that still doesn't give a lot of options. That's eighty percent of Dauntless men."

Savannah looked deep in thought. "What about an initiate? Maybe I can set you up with Landon! Then we can double date!"

Arabella looked at her in shock, "Damian asked you out already?"

Savannah frowned. "Well, no. But he will eventually. I mean..." she stopped when realizing how sad that sounded.

Arabella rolled her eyes, "It's okay. I don't like Landon, anyway. I wouldn't date a guy that finds my sister hot." She scoffed.

Christina cringed. "Yeah, that would make for awkward visiting days."

Six sighed, "Arabella doesn't need a man. She should just get through initiation. That should be both your main priorities."

Savannah shrugged, "I can multi-task." Then she gestured with her chin, turning everyone's attention back to Arabella's tattoo. "So, what's your tattoo supposed to represent then?"

All three of their eyes were glued to her as she spoke without a second thought, "It's to represent love...that one day I will find a guy who will fill that other half. It gives me hope."

* * *

Today the initiates start their physical fighting. Arabella feels her fist clench and unclench as she watches everyone gather around Four and Eric.

"Luckily this year we start off with an even number. So you all will be fighting today." Behind Eric and Four is the chalboard with all their names. It is ranked with who they're going to be fighting with.

Arabella sighs. She's fighting Ashley. She didn't notice Ashley's physical strength, so she isn't sure if she'll be a threat or not. Savannah's fighting Josh. She sees Savannah bite her bottom lip in worry. She squeezes her shoulder for a second, giving her friend slight comfort.

"Alright, on the mat, first up; Christian and Kevin." Eric says Arabella's eyes to find him across the room, his face expressionless as he glares at them all, "Fight ends when one of you is unable to continue." Four lets out a sigh, clearly looking uncomfortable with that rule.

The two tall men circle each other for a minute. Finally Eric gets annoyed, "Come on. Stop playing with each other."

That's all Christian needed to hear before he made the first punch, slamming his fist right into Kevin's jaw.

Kevin took a step back, caught off-guard, and Christian took that as an advantage and punched Kevin right in the nose. Arabella found herself flinching.

The fight goes on for another minute as Kevin tries to attack Christian back, but since he hesitated, Christian knocked him onto the ground, punching him square in the jaw one last time. Blood oozed out of Kevin's nose and Arabella knew his jaw had to be broken.

"Alright." Calls Four as he steps onto the mat. Christian stands up, fixes a glare Kevin's way before walking up beside Michael and George. Four pulls Kevin up, "Savannah, can you take Kevin to the infirmary?" He asked her.

She nodded quietly. Her and a suddenly quiet Kevin walk out of the training room.

Four calls out next, "Next: Arabella and Ashley."

Sighing to herself, Arabella walks over to the mat. Ashley stands there, she looks tough on the outside, but Arabella could tell Ashley was worried. She didn't understand why, it wasn't like she was Christian or anything.

The two circle each other for a moment. Arabella can feel Eric's hot gaze on her as she gulps to herself, standing in the stance she was just taught the day before.

"Come on, Amity." Cooed Ashley. "You going to hit me? You should have stayed at the farm-"

She never finishes her sentence because Arabella takes her anger out on the initiate in front of her. She raises her arm and punches Ashley in the face. Ashley looked too shocked to comprehend what just happened before Arabella lifts her leg up to kick her in the stomach.

She wants to win.

She wants to stay.

She has to. She has no choice.

She knows the first two were cheap shots, so when Ashley got herself back up by pulling Arabella's leg out from under her and then lifting herself up onto her knees, she saw it coming when Ashley socked her in the side of the head.

"Stupid, bitch." Ashley gritted out.

Ashley raises her arm and punches Arabella again right in the side of her cheek. Arabella can feel the pressure in her ears. She wants to lay there and just take it. She was too exhausted but she didn't let herself. She saw an opening and with all her might, shoved Ashley off of her by grabbing her neck.

Getting the upper hand she kicks Ashley away from her, then tries to sit up, but by the time she's almost up, she doesn't realize Ashley is that much quicker. Ashley grabs Arabella by her pony tail and slams her face into the mat.

She wanted to call time. To be the coward that she knows she probably is deep down inside but she can't. She knows she'll probably get in trouble for it. Who knows what Eric would do to her.

She feels Ashley stand up. She pulls her arms out against the mat, she bends them to try to lift herself back up, but within a second, she's pressed against the mat again, with Ashley's foot dug into her back.

"Alright."

Arabella had expected that it was Four who spoke, but with the little energy she had, she looked up, and noticed that Four was giving Eric a look of shock. Eric ignored him and mumbled, "Who's next, Four?"

With no help from anyone, she lifts herself up and goes to stand beside Josh.

He gives her a sad smile, "You did good, Arabella."

She didn't say anything. She knows she did terrible. If she can't fight someone like Ashley then how is she expected to make it into Dauntless?

After fights were over, Arabella was the last initiate to leave the training room.

Four and Eric didn't realize she wasn't full gone yet before they started speaking.

"What was that, Eric?" questioned Four.

"What was what?" he asked, sounding confused.

"Why did you stop Arabella and Ashley's fight?"

Hiding behind the wall now, too interested to leave. She hears Eric answer, "I could tell she was on the verge of passing out. The Candor girl was going to knock her out-"

"And since when do you care when initiates get knocked out? I was the one that had to stop the other fights. You didn't even blink when Steve knocked out George."

Eric rolled his eyes, "Maybe I didn't feel like having to take Amity back to the infirmary again. Look, we both know the girl isn't going to make it past first stage-"

Arabella doesn't hear the rest. She leaves in a hurry walking down the corridor. She felt the hot tears in her eyes but she doesn't let them out. She's too strong for that. But she can't help but think why? Why does he have no faith in her at all _? Maybe it's because I haven't proven myself._

 _I need to believe I'm going to make initiation, I need to believe in myself, before others can as well._

* * *

That night after dinner, she sneaks into the training room. She realizes that initiates probably aren't allowed here without an instructor but she really doesn't care.

She practices the punches Four taught her against the punching bag. She realizes the more power and the more comofortable she becomes, the more better she gets. She just has to try. She just has to know that she can do this.

An hour and a half later, right when she start fixing her hair by putting the now long and frizzy mess out of her way by re-doing her pony tail, a familiar blonde leader walks in.

A glare is evident on his features as he stalks her way. "I knew you were here. I saw you in the control room. When the hell did you think you can make up your own rules, Amity?"

Her eyes find his. She stares wide-eyed and dazed. She didn't know there were cameras!

"I-I" she stuttered. She couldn't make up some lame excuse, he had seen her. He knows why she was here.

"I-I what?" He mocked her.

Looking down onto the ground she frowned, "I'm sorry. I didn't think me doing extra practicing was such a big deal."

He scowled, "Of course it's a big deal. You're an initiate. You can't be in here alone, you'll hurt yourself."

 _He cares..._

 _Or maybe he just doesn't want to get himself introuble and risk his leadership role?_

 _The latter makes more sense._

"I'm sorry." She spoke again, ever so softly.

His expression doesn't soften. "Just don't do it again."

She nodded her head slowly. She turned and bent down to pick up her water bottle. Eric notices the tattoo on her shoulder. He didn't notice it during her fight until now.

"So, you think you're Dauntless enough for the tattoo, Amity?" He smirked as he taunted her.

She doesn't acknowledge what he says. She knows he doesn't think she belongs here. So why pretend around each other? She'll repsect him because he's her leader, but she will not sit here and pretend with him. She'll not play his mind games.

She walks passed him without so much as a glance, but he catches her arm. She doesn't understand why she has to reply to him when's he's making conversation, but he can't reply to her when she tried the other night?

"Don't ignore me when I'm talking to you, Amity." He spat in her face.

She doesn't meet his eyes, "I don't believe I have anything to say to you that doesn't involve my initiation, Sir."

His face was red and his eyes looked crazed. She stiffened when his hand on her arm tightened more than she liked.

"Don't fucking call me that again, Amity. Don't back talk either."

Arabella licked her lips, "I wasn't being rude. I was just stating-"

He let go of her with a slight shove, "Get out of my sight. I don't want to hear your Amity bullshit right now."

Arabella walked out of the training room with anger coursing through her veins.

Walking down the corridor to the Pit, she heard Josh behind her, "Hey, Amity."

She turned around, face red with irritation, "Stop calling me that." Realizing who it was, and Josh's shocked facial expression, Arabella let out a sigh and apologized immediatley, "Oh, I'm sorry, Josh. I've just been under stress the past couple hours and I-"

Josh shook his head, "Hey, it's okay. I understand. We're all under stress right now."

She nodded her head, thankful he understood. "And I really don't care if I'm called Amity, honestly. It's just-I ran into-you know what it doesn't matter just pretend I didn't blow up on you a few moments ago." She let out an awkward laugh and he smiled.

"I just came to warn you about something..." he told her, his voice droping to a whisper.

"What?" She asked him.

"Claire is telling people that Eric stopped the fight between you and Ashley because he's favoriting you."

Without a second thought, and uncontrollable burst of laughter escapes Arabella. "What? Eric favoriting me?" She chuckled hard, her hands surrounding her stomach, "That's ridiculous. He practically hates me all because I'm a weak girl from Amity. I'm everything he despises for a Dauntless initiate."

Josh cracked a worried smile. "It's just, it doesn't look good for you. That was the only fight he stopped. He didn't even care about the rest like Four did-"

She sighed, "Everyone is just reading into it wrong. I heard him after our practice. He said that he knows I'm not going to pass initiation. Maybe under all that face jewlery and eyebrow scowling he has a conciounce that tells him that what he's doing is wrong, by letting me get hurt even when I'm not-"

"Your face is bruising badly." Josh cut her off with a wince.

Arabella touched her face on instinct and flinched. She knew it was just going to be worse by morning. "That's great. I bruise easily." She scoffed. "And Ashley isn't even heavy handed."

 _Don't get negative again_. She repeatedly chants in her head.

After being reassured by Josh that she can make it into initiation, she finally said her goodbyes to him and they both went their seperate ways.

Neither of them knew a certain Dauntless leader was creeping behind the corridor listening.


End file.
